DRC NT women can seal WNIT bid/all other sports

[OldTimer]

College Notebook: Slinker: UNT women can seal WNIT bid

09:15 AM CST on Wednesday, March 1, 2006

North Texas head coach Tina Slinker is focused squarely on this week’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament, but she has considered what might lie beyond.

UNT has 19 wins and could very well solidify a bid to the WNIT during the conference tournament while making a run at the NCAA Tournament. The Mean Green won the Sun Belt West Division crown last week by sweeping games at Troy and South Alabama.

That title, combined with a few solid non-conference wins, could extend the Mean Green’s season beyond the league tournament.

UNT will face the winner of a game between Arkansas State and Troy in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. on Saturday in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

ASU, the No. 4 seed from the SBC East, is UNT’s likely opponent in its first game in the event.

ASU was one of two Sun Belt teams that advanced to the WNIT last year and won two games before falling to Iowa.

The Sun Belt placed three teams in the tournament in 2004.

The league has sent just one team to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last four seasons.

“One more win would solidify our spot in the WNIT a little better,” Slinker said. “The tournament committee is aware of what our league and what we have done. We have beaten Middle Tennessee, played Western Kentucky well and came back to beat South Alabama. To beat Arkansas State would help us in the selection process for the WNIT.”

The Mean Green also have wins over SMU and UTEP on its resume.

UNT advanced to the WNIT twice under Slinker in the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons.

The Mean Green have made the NCAA Tournament once, in the 1985-86 season under former coach Judy Nelson.

UNT was 19-10 when it advanced to the WNIT in the 2000-01 season and 21-8 when it earned a bid in the 2001-02 season. The Mean Green lost in the first round both seasons

The Mean Green also lost in the first round in their only NCAA Tournament appearance.

—Brett Vito

unt Briefs

Women’s basketball

Controlling Davie could be a concern for Mean Green

North Texas could very well face the challenge of defending one of the Sun Belt Conference’s top post players in the quarterfinals of the league tournament on Saturday in Arkansas State’s Adrianne Davie.

UNT won the Sun Belt West Division title and will face the winner of a game between ASU and Troy at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The Lady Indians are the No. 4 seed in the SBC East and are favored to advance to face the Mean Green.

Davie ranks seventh in the Sun Belt with an average of 15.0 points per game. The 6-3 junior center scored 23 points in ASU’s 75-47 win over the Mean Green earlier this season.

“We have always had trouble with Davie,” UNT head coach Tina Slinker said. “We will have to make adjustments and consider double-teaming her.”

Ajekwu comes back with vengeance

UNT junior forward Mia Ajekwu has come back with a vengeance from the toughest time in her season earlier this year.

Ajekwu was suspended for one game for a violation of team rules before a game against Arkansas State on Jan. 21.

Ajekwu has come back from that suspension, worked her way into the starting lineup and has played at her best at the end of the season, scoring in double figures in each of her last four games.

Ajekwu has averaged 17.5 points in the final six games of the season.

“Everyone makes mistakes,” UNT head coach Tina Slinker said. “How you respond shows who you are. Mia is playing very well for us right now.”

Men’s basketball

Watson surging late in season for Mean Green

UNT head coach Johnny Jones wanted to get Calvin Watson’s attention a few weeks ago and inspire the junior guard to live up to his potential.

A trip to the bench turned out to be just what Watson needed.

Jones moved Watson into a sixth-man role before moving him back into the starting lineup. The change has sparked Watson, who is averaging 17.3 points in his last six games.

UNT is hoping Watson’s recent surge will continue in this week’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Mean Green will open the event with a first-round game against Arkansas-Little Rock at 5 p.m. on Friday.

“Calvin was not playing at the level I thought he was capable of,” Jones said. “We took him out of the lineup, and it was an awakening for him. He thought he would be back in a game or two, but after a while he understood it would be his actions in practice and games that would get him back in the lineup.”

UNT looks to end skid against UALR in tourney

UNT will look to break through in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tourna-ment on Friday against a team that has dominated the series between them.

The Mean Green will face Arkansas-Little Rock in the first round at 5 p.m. on Friday.

UALR has won the last two meetings between the teams, including a 69-60 win in Little Rock, Ark., on Jan. 19. The Trojans lead the all-time series, 9-3.

Track and field

Indoor finish disappointing for Mean Green women

UNT head coach Rick Watkins and the Mean Green came home from the Sun Belt Conference indoor meet a little disappointed last week.

The UNT women won the team title last season and were picked by the league’s coaches to repeat, but finished second behind Western Kentucky.

“It was a little disappointing because we went down there to win,” Watkins said. “It took a great performance in the finals to win and Western Kentucky had a great performance.”

The UNT men finished fourth in the team standings.

Mark Lee (high jump), Brandi Stanfield (triple jump) and Heather Wood (shot put) all won individual titles.

UNT also broke five school records at the meet.

Stanfield awaits word on berth in national meet

Brandi Stanfield should find out next Monday if she will become the first UNT athlete in the last several years to compete in the national indoor track championships.

Stanfield came into the Sun Belt Conference meet last week with the 14th-best jump in the nation.

The freshman improved her mark by almost a foot when she posted a mark of 43-5 1/2 and moved into seventh place in the national leaders list.

Stanfield’s mark was a UNT and Sun Belt record, but did not meet the automatic qualifying standard for the national meet. The NCAA takes all of the automatic qualifiers in each event at the national meet and then fills out the rest of the field with provisional qualifiers.

Stanfield is likely to receive one of the provisional qualifying spots in the triple jump and is also on the provisional qualifiers list for the national meet in the long jump.

UNT head coach Rick Wat-kins said Stanfield is unlikely to advance to nationals in the long jump and will concentrate on the triple jump.

A total of 17 athletes competed in the triple jump in last season’s national meet.

This year’s national meet will take place March 10-11 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Echebelem breaks two school records

Chi Chi Echebelem broke a pair of school records at the Sun Belt Conference indoor meet last week.

The sophomore posted a time of 24.41 in the preliminary round of the 200-meter dash and broke the record set by Ananka Clark in 2003. Eche-belem then broke the school’s 400-meter dash record with a time of 55.51, which was good enough for third place in the meet. Chiqueta Ellis held UNT’s indoor 400-meter dash record for seven years.

The Mean Green broke a total of five school records at the meet.

Softball

Jonse out five weeks with thumb injury

UNT catcher Christen Jonse is expected to miss the next five weeks of the season with a torn ligament in her thumb.

The junior sustained the injury when a Nicholls State player slide into home and collided with Jonse on Feb. 20. Jonse leads the Mean Green with a .348 batting average.

Jonse had spent most of the season as UNT’s designated hitter, while Dani-elle Rupp has caught the majority of the Mean Green’s games.

UNT head coach Kelly Burns said she has adapted by playing without a designated hitter most of the time. Pitcher Kristina Fowler has hit for herself throughout the season.

UNT on verge of .500 record heading into games today

UNT could reach a milestone during a doubleheader against Louisiana-Monroe at 3 p.m. today.

The Mean Green enter the series with a 7-8 record and can move over the .500 mark for the first time after 17 games in the three seasons since the program was reinstated.

“The girls are excited about it,” UNT head coach Kelly Burns said of the possibility of moving over the .500 mark.

Bottom of order breaks out for Mean Green at tourney

UNT received a lift from a pair of freshmen at the bottom of its batting order last weekend at the Tulsa Festival.

Second baseman Sarah Jones went 5-for-11 with a double and an RBI for the weekend. Outfielder Kadie Platt was also solid, going 3-for-12 with an RBI.

Jones started the season by posting just two hits in her first 29 at-bats, while Platt had just one hit in her first 10 games.

—Brett Vito

Player of the week

When the North Texas women’s basketball team needed her most, Mia Ajekwu was at her best last week.

The junior forward scored in double figures in both of UNT’s games to lead the Mean Green to wins over Troy and South Alabama. UNT knew coming into the week that it would need to win its remaining games to capture the Sun Belt Conference West Division title and pulled through to reach its goal.

Ajekwu scored 23 points against Troy and posted 24 in the Mean Green’s win over USA that gave the Mean Green the Sun Belt West title.

The Sun Belt Conference named Ajekwu its Player of the Week for her performance in leading the Mean Green to the division title. Her performance also made her the obvious choice for Denton Record-Chronicle UNT Player of the Week.

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The UNT women won the team title last season and were picked by the league’s coaches to repeat, but finished second behind Western Kentucky.

“It was a little disappointing because we went down there to win,” Watkins said. “It took a great performance in the finals to win and Western Kentucky had a great performance.”

its nice to see a team set those kind of expectations.

[EXMeangreener]

The Men need some people with positive attitudes backing them...not people that praise when its good times and bash when it's down times. Either you are a supporter or not!